Jessica Pegula stunned by Carlos Alcaraz’s surprising US Open return

Jessica Pegula couldn’t see herself making the same type of return as the one Carlos Alcaraz is making Monday at the U.S. Open after not playing a competitive match for more than four months.

Alcaraz will face Russian Roman Safiullin in the first round, marking his first match of this magnitude since mid-April when he was sidelined by a wrist injury. The Spaniard opted to skip the Cincinnati Open earlier this month, which surprised Pegula.

“I thought, ‘Wow, that’s a tough thing to do,’ but I think he’s kind of a special player, obviously,” she said after winning her first-round match Sunday.

Pegula, who defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse in straight sets in the opening round on Sunday, also noted that because it’s best-of-five to win a match in the men’s tournament, it could also give Alcaraz a little extra wiggle room to shake the rust off.

“I do think it gives a little more leeway for him to work his way into matches, where if it’s two out of three, like for the women, that to me is a little bit tougher,” she explained. “Because you lose the first set and you come out a little rusty, you’re, like, ‘Oh, my gosh, if I don’t win the second set, then I’m out.’”

Alcaraz has missed out on more than half of the major tournaments this season and several ATP events as well, but Pegula had no doubt that he can rise to the occasion in Queens. “I think if he can win his first couple of rounds, he’s gonna find his form very, very fast,” she said.

Tommy Paul is confident that an American man could win the U.S. Open this year.

No American man has won a Grand Slam title in Flushing Meadows since 2003, but Paul said that “the Americans have been playing great tennis leading into the U.S. Open.”

“This is always where we want to play well. This is always where we have, I guess, the most energy going into matches,” he said. “To get across the line, I’m not sure. Obviously we’re going to have to play really, really good tennis and really clutch tennis.”

Rick Pitino was back in Queens, just a few miles away from St. John’s campus. The Red Storm head coach returned to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center to take in the night session of Day 1 of the tournament.

Pitino had attended a night session at last year’s U.S. Open as well.